Loving All the Football Fans in My Life

Fun fact: I was born in Alabama.

My family moved to Lafayette when I was 7. I was raised as an Alabama football fan. Not a fair weather football fan, a true Alabama football fan. My dad made sure we were watching SEC football all day on Saturdays, and Auburn was the scum of the Earth.

Somewhere along the way, my sister got brave enough to say she wanted to go to college at LSU. I’m pretty sure my parents were so relieved it wasn’t Auburn that they were delighted at her choices. I was in the 8th grade when my sister started college at LSU. When we would go visit her, I discovered there was nothing cooler to me that being on the LSU campus. My sweet sister eventually secured two LSU season tickets (in the student section) and began taking me to games.

Hello, life changing experience. We became DIE HARD LSU fans.

We survived DiNardo, rushing the field after whooping Tennessee, and many a 100 degree day game in Tiger Stadium. We followed closely when Nick Satan (sorry, Saban), left LSU to go to the pros. How’d that work out Nick? We cheered and celebrated when LSU won not one, but TWO National Championships during my extended years at LSU. Which leads us to now. Obviously, right now, in football and for the past few years, Alabama is king. I can say that; I still bleed purple and gold.

As we approach the biggest game of the LSU and Alabama regular season, tensions are thick in my family.

Not real, hardcore tension, but the game is coming and we’re all waiting to see who is going to talk a little smack first. Who is going to take things a little too far and make someone mad? Who is going to text first after the game? Hint: Should LSU win, it will probably be me with a witty meme.

Here’s what I’ll say … at the end of the day, my parents have supported and loved me for my 33 years. My parents paid, in full, for my undergrad and grad school degrees to LSU. My parents bought my season tickets to LSU football games the entire time I was in school. They even footed the bill for my travel to Bryant Denny Stadium to see my beloved tigers play. I will not cross the line into taking SEC football personal. My cousins will post on my Facebook all the smack talk, I may reply, or I may feel like I’m being too mean and ignore. Again I say, I’m not taking this too seriously, and I’m not losing friends or family over a football game. I will cheer for my Tigers unashamedly, and get my jabs in if I can without taking things too far.

In an effort to show some love to friends, family, and LSU, here are some ideas I can up with to survive the coming weekend.

1. Bake your people some kind of dessert treat. You can even do a tiger striped cake with white icing and they can be surprised.
2. Buy them some of that delicious LSU Community Coffee, because who doesn’t love coffee.
3. Invite them over to watch the game. Cook something delicious and show them some good Cajun hospitality. Remember they’re from Alabama and they may not know what good food tastes like.  
4. Stay quiet. As the saying goes, “Even an idiot is thought a genius, until he speaks.” Also, it goes back to “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
5. Send a text simply saying, “Best of luck in the game today. Please respect my wishes and don’t talk smack before or after the game. I love you. Go Tigers.”  
6. Remember it’s just a game and on Sunday, it will be over.  

I’m making #Bamahateweek, #Bamaloveweek. However, FOREVER LSU!